Wines downeast Maine and back home (long, rambling)

[DougS]

Adding in more praise for Fore Street, runner up with Street and Co. Street and Co is a little more straightforward in terms of prep and menu items than Fore st, but the quality of food is terrific at both.

While Fore Street sometimes seems more ambitious in terms of preparations, I do not think everything is always executed perfectly. I am nitpicking, and I’ve never had a meal there that I didn’t enjoy, but having been many times, I have not found it quite as great as all the praise makes it seem. At Street and Co., on the other hand, I have always found executions perfect, to an extent that I might enjoy a slightly less intricate dish more there because they really nailed it. I will happily return to both restaurants as long as they are there, but S&Co. is the one my wife and I have been more interested in for some years now. Our most recent visit was a few months ago, and it was one of our favorite meals we’ve had there.

[Charlie_Neuhaus]

Fore street has had its share of Chef turnover, and that’s indeed led to ups and downs. It used to be hands down our favorite spot in town, but not in a number of years. The ambience is always great, and makes for an enjoyable experience, but hasn’t had the “wow” factor in a while imho…

[John_Morris]

I really enjoyed your notes, Dan. Thanks!

[David_Wright]

+1

I’ve never been to Maine, despite doing grad school in Massachusetts. Hoping to remedy that deficiency (along with Rhode Island) in the next year or two, and these notes will help steer a course.

[Dan_Kravitz]

Restaurants could assemble a small but particularly decent list of wines from folks with Maine affiliations in their backgrounds!

I do hope, in a fashion, to be able to pick up the mantle of fine, still red Blueberry wine from Bartlett Vineyards later this summer. Still, with Kelley, have every intention of making a few barrels. Honors both the Maine roots and the agricultural industry here in Oregon.

For those who may have missed it, Jim Anderson comes from Maine.

I live in Maine; I founded an import business in 1985.

Now please let me tout a competitor:
Paul Chartrand also founded his import company, Chartrand Imports, in 1985. It is based in Maine. He brings in only organic wines, mostly from France but with a few producers in Italy, Spain and Germany. His wines are extremely well chosen and reasonably priced. He has quietly built a beautiful portfolio. He’s not in every state, but I think he has distributors in most of the big markets. If you see his name on a back label, you can buy with confidence.

Dan Kravitz

[Andy_Steinman]

I’ll be visiting my daughter in July this summer, who lives near Saco. Are there other restaurants, besides the White Barn Inn, in the area that are worth reserving for a special meal? TIA.

From what I’ve been told, by people I trust very much, Earth at Hidden Pond may be the top answer, well above White Barn Inn (not to discount the latter). There are a LOT of nice places in Portland, but very few are near this level, in these people’s opinions. Portland has a lot of very nice restaurants with wine lists that don’t live up to the caliber of food, so be ready for that.

I’ll be at both Earth and White Barn next week and will report back. From past visits, I really didn’t understand all the buzz about Earth.

Given my druthers, I would have every meal at Nunan’s Lobster Hut.

Last week, the food at Earth was extraordinary - far better than I recalled. They’ve also made some significant facilities upgrades and now have some great venue for small group private dining. The service was good but a bit too much of the “fawning over the country club regular” vibe.

We never made it to the White Barn - their menu didn’t appeal to my wife.

Nunan’s, The Clam Shack and the Maine Diner were great.

In Portland we ate at both Fore Street, Street and Company and Central Provisions.

At Fore Street, my starter was tasteless but a Scallop entree was great. Service was sad. Our server was inexperienced and inattentive. It took three tries to get the correct wine to the table and overall was far short of “fine dining”.

At Street and Company, the service was fantastic but the food was underwhelming.

Central Provisions was the real deal. Great food and service all around.

FWIW

[Kirk.Grant]

Restaurants could assemble a small but particularly decent list of wines from folks with Maine affiliations in their backgrounds!

I do hope, in a fashion, to be able to pick up the mantle of fine, still red Blueberry wine from Bartlett Vineyards later this summer. Still, with Kelley, have every intention of making a few barrels. Honors both the Maine roots and the agricultural industry here in Oregon.

I cannot wait to try the blueberry wine you & Kelley are making together. If you ever decided you want to Move back to Maine, Bob & Kathe are trying to sell their winery.